The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Beowolf Agate
! That's a new version, for sure, but the Leader has been around for quite some time. I think it's been re-established in regular production in the last year.
Interesting background that I was not aware of. Thanks for sharing the info.
I got that newsletter too and was checking out all the new variations on established designs from the Workshop. You're quite right about Alex the dealer's prices, as they continue to rise. On the one hand, that seems to have been his pattern as he's become more established and gets a handle on what the market will bear. In other regards, inflation here (and world-wide, I imagine) is of course driving everything up, then the US/Russian exchange rate is very much not in our favor currently, and the present international situation with embargoes and sanctions is making it really difficult to obtain Russian goods. (Not to disregard the human suffering and devastation of war, causation notwithstanding.) There's very little available at domestic dealers and that the particular one we're discussing is still able to re-stock is remarkable.I just got the most recent newsletter. I like some of the new versions of the Scout but prices have gone up. I like mine a lot but the texture offers way more grip than I need for EDC. So it keeps getting passed over for carry and that seems a shame. Replacing it could be the motivation I needed to finally start using the Exchange...
Not that I need enabling, but this thread needed a bump anyway. Here is a pic of my current Scout from the one day I actually carried it.
Beowolf Agate
's new leader with that milling, though his is more a truly right-angle checkerboard (kinda like a mini frag pattern) while yours has more curvature to it and is somewhat similar to the slabs on my Frieze. I was immediately jealous of our friend's new Leader, but had mixed feelings when checking the listings--disappointment that they were sold out, coupled with relief that I wouldn't be shelling out another 6 bills or so on another knife.
The Ruble is +25% vs $USD since the start of the Russian "special operation." This factor by itself turns a $500 knife into a $625 knife. Not discounting your observation about global inflation, and possible "markup creep," but the exchange rate situation is real, and quantifiable. See attached chart.I got that newsletter too and was checking out all the new variations on established designs from the Workshop. You're quite right about Alex the dealer's prices, as they continue to rise. On the one hand, that seems to have been his pattern as he's become more established and gets a handle on what the market will bear. In other regards, inflation here (and world-wide, I imagine) is of course driving everything up, then the US/Russian exchange rate is very much not in our favor currently, and the present international situation with embargoes and sanctions is making it really difficult to obtain Russian goods. (Not to disregard the human suffering and devastation of war, causation notwithstanding.) There's very little available at domestic dealers and that the particular one we're discussing is still able to re-stock is remarkable.
Your comments on the checkerboard milling on your Scout--quite handsome to my eye--are interesting. Do you find it uncomfortable or is it just more than grippy than you deem necessary in an EDC context? I'd really admired
No such luck this time though. I saw a couple more newly-listed all-Ti Leaders when following newsletter link--one in checkerboard and the other in horizontal flutes--but was struck by the all-CF LW version. I wrote to Alex for more pics and info and was pleased to discover that, if I'm correct after viewing, that the knife is constructed like my small CF Strizh as sort of a linerless linerlock, affording a huge weight savings. Alex's scale put it at a ridiculous 3.4 oz for a 4" bladed knife. This one has a hybrid sculpted/spring clip and a lanyard pin and relief cut into the rear backspacer--two more features that are particularly appealing to me.
Anyway, so much for saving money--it's all packed up and I have a tracking number.
See Post #364
I got that newsletter too and was checking out all the new variations on established designs from the Workshop. You're quite right about Alex the dealer's prices, as they continue to rise. On the one hand, that seems to have been his pattern as he's become more established and gets a handle on what the market will bear. In other regards, inflation here (and world-wide, I imagine) is of course driving everything up, then the US/Russian exchange rate is very much not in our favor currently, and the present international situation with embargoes and sanctions is making it really difficult to obtain Russian goods. (Not to disregard the human suffering and devastation of war, causation notwithstanding.) There's very little available at domestic dealers and that the particular one we're discussing is still able to re-stock is remarkable.
Your comments on the checkerboard milling on your Scout--quite handsome to my eye--are interesting. Do you find it uncomfortable or is it just more than grippy than you deem necessary in an EDC context? I'd really admired
No such luck this time though. I saw a couple more newly-listed all-Ti Leaders when following newsletter link--one in checkerboard and the other in horizontal flutes--but was struck by the all-CF LW version. I wrote to Alex for more pics and info and was pleased to discover that, if I'm correct after viewing, that the knife is constructed like my small CF Strizh as sort of a linerless linerlock, affording a huge weight savings. Alex's scale put it at a ridiculous 3.4 oz for a 4" bladed knife. This one has a hybrid sculpted/spring clip and a lanyard pin and relief cut into the rear backspacer--two more features that are particularly appealing to me.
Anyway, so much for saving money--it's all packed up and I have a tracking number.
Beowolf Agate
and
Chronovore
. I'm appreciative of the fact that our posters are being careful about naming dealers, whether supporting or non-, and I don't want to venture into that amorphous BF-taboo region of "deal spotting", but given our already broached subjects of the exchange rate as well as price creep, I searched back through my transactions as well as some dealer websites just to see if I could make some sense of what's going on re both availability and pricing on Russian knives.
Well stated and definitely agree with final sentiment.Some interesting points raised here by both
Looking at the price increases at the website whose newsletter prompted my most recent purchase, they're almost exactly in line with BA's noted +25% increase in the exchange rate of the Ruble over the US dollar. As he had mentioned that the two Shirogorov-authorized US dealers (actually the only two outside of the Motherland) still had some stock and their prices had not increased, I would note that they both have very little selection indeed--just two models plus one one high-priced Lotto piece at the CA seller and two versions of one model at the BF-supporting dealer, quantities unknown. For sure, larger, well-established sellers with much vaster and diverse inventories would be greatly advantaged in swallowing potential cost increases on very limited, remaindered stock. That anyone might be able to re-stock Russian offerings in this current climate is surely remarkable.
As far as Chrono's query regarding custom vs mid-tech categorization, these are knife-community terms that are generally rather loosely, vaguely, and overlappingly defined. The bulk of the knives we're discussing here are certainly mid-tech--what Shiro refers to as their "serial production" line. To me, for both makers, these are mid-tech knives which have their larger parts CNC'd or otherwise machine cut with subsequent and substantial milling, grinding, fitting, assembly, and tuning all done by hand.
Cheburkov features "Custom" versions of their usual models featuring higher end materials and finishes which are made to order. Shiro has their limited edition "Custom Division" knives, again higher end variations on their serial production knives, which are, I believe, each built entirely by one knife maker. In my home building trade, "custom" means built specifically on a client's order, generally to an individual set of design drawings, which is quite different from Shiro's CD's, which are not bespoke, much like their limited run Collabs. Of course there are Sergey's Customs, which are a whole 'nother thing altogether.
Anyway, I'm straying a bit here, as I had started this thread some 3+ years backing writing,
"As a Russian maker, Workshop Cherburkova will inevitably be compared with another well-known producer, but I thought I'd start a new thread for Alexander's work as it is excellent, there is great variety amongst his offerings, their pricing represents great value, and his knives certainly deserve recognition and discussion on their own merit."
However, to follow up on Chrono's other question regarding comparative quality, I've owned 10 Shiro's, still have 9, and will soon receive my 6th Cheburkov. I've not seen anything in Alex's work that I would consider to be of lesser quality than that coming out of the SBW. Certainly the latter has their own design language--that "thing" unique to their work, much as CRK, RHK, and Olamic--all quality makers--also do. To my eye, there's also something special and unique to Alex's offerings that make them distinctly their own. And yes, despite recent price increases, I still think Cheburkov knives are a great value as top quality mid-techs.
Almost like getting a free knife, eh? That's a small Strizh, is it? I like my CF small a lot and have been tempted numerous times to pick up a large, though I've always looked for one like mine that's also all CF. If my new Leader is as I hope, I could extend my large Strizh parameters as I've seen a few Ti models along the way that have piqued my interest.
Excellent knowledge of your Cheburkovs. I have them stacked in a slotted nanuk case so the bottom knives get lost at times. Looking forward to your report on the Leader.
